Knee guard



Dec. 19, 1950 A. E. VOLD KNEE GUARD Filed March 18, 1949 fll d zrrsI/OLD INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNEE GUARD 7 AnnetteE. Vold, Rosemead, Calif Application March 1 8, 1949, Serial No. 82,209

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in knee guards for protecting theknees while kneeling or resting upon the knees in the performance ofsuch duties as waxing or scrubbing floors, gardening, laying linoleumand doing roofing.

Many devices from a revealing search for performing work of this naturehave been found to be already patented, but upon careful examinationhave been found to be capable of improvement, especially from thestandpoint of comfort while being worn. Many of these devices becomeuncomfortable when the knee is fiexed to a kneeling position, owing tothe strain of their lacing on the leg muscles and particularly thetendons joined to the thigh and calf muscles, so that, after a, shortperiod of kneeling the pain becomes more pronounced and the resultingdiscomfort is greater than that experienced when no knee guard orprotector is used. Such devices are therefore impractical for long useat a time.

It is therefore one of the main objects of this invention to improveupon the disadvantages arising in prior patented devices by providingmeans to alleviate any pain brought about through long continued use ofknee pads after the knee has been flexed to a kneeling position.

When a thick, sponge rubber pad of the air foam type is enclosed withina covering and such covering is applied to a knee joint and the coveringthen bent, the enclosing sack, unless properly constructed will preventthe pad from elongating as it should to supply the extra length requiredwhen the knee is bent, as compared with that required when it isstraight. Hence, in order that no undue stress be placed on the jointtendons some provision must be made to take care of this change in thecondition of the pad. The present invention takes care of this requiredadjustment in an improved manner.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafterappear.

Referring to the drawing therein is shown a preferred embodiment of theinvention now be-,

ing manufactured,

Fig. 1 is an outside or top plan view of the protector for the rightknee with the leg encircling elastics curved backwardly.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2in Fig. 1.

thick to afford the desired protection to the knee portion 8 of the legof the wearer.

Said pad 1 is enclosed between two facings of sheet material, therebeing a front facing 9 and a rear facing or lining if Said front facinghas a lower edge portion l I extending below the pad and said rearfacing has a lower edge portion l2 extending below the pad, the twoextensions thus produced being sewed together in a flatwise, abuttingrelation.

Likewise the front facing 9 has an upper portion I5 extending above thepad, and the rear facing has an upper portion I6 extending above thepad, the upwardly directed extension thus produced also being sewedtogether in a fiatwise, abutting relation. Hence a two-ply upperextension l'! and two-ply lower extension l8 results.

Thus, in relation to the enclosedpad l, a twoply lower extensionisproduced and a two-ply upper extension, and from the drawing it will beseen that the latter extension is much longer than the former.

It will be observed, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4, that the frontfacing 9 conforms at 9a to the upper end surface of the pad, and at 912to the lower end surface thereof. Also (see Fig. 5) the' front facing 9conforms at So to each side end surface of the pad, rows of stitches l9being provided where the parts 9a and 9b of the front facing 9 join therear facing. The result is that all parts of the rear facing l0 lie insubstantially the same plane as the rear face of the pad proper 1, asalso does the two-ply upper extension I! and two-ply lower extension 18,these extensions being produced by securing the front and rear facingsto each other in afiatwise abutting manner.

As' well shown in Fig. 1 the side edge portions of the two-ply upperextension I! diverge from each other at Ila and [lb thus formingdiverging ears, one end portion of a flexible connection shown as anelastic strap 2|, being attached to the upper part of the latterextension by being stitched in between the two plies thereof, said strapcarrying at its opposite end a female snap fastener 22 which is snappedonto a male fastener 23 carried by said extension ll, after the straphas been passed around the leg of the wearer a short distance above theknee. Likewise a lower attaching strap 24 is provided, which issimilarly sewed to the lower extension l8 and carries at its free end asnap fastener 25 to cooperate with a snap element 26 carried by theopposite side portion of the lower extension I8.

In order to adapt the device to persons having smaller legs, fasteners23;; and 2511 are provided nearer the midwidth, respectively, of theexten- 3 sions l1 and [8, to cooperate with the fasteners of theaforesaid straps.

It is deemed desirable to make one of the knee protectors of each pairas a right and the other as a left in order that the wearer may connectthe fasteners carried by the straps to the other fasteners at the outersides of his or her legs. The rights will be provided by attaching thestraps to the side of the pad opposite to which they are secured in thedrawings and changing accordingly the positions of the snaps with whichcooperate the snaps carried bysaid straps.

Owing to the upper extension I! being considerably longer than :thelower extension l8 and the strap .21 being attached flush-with the upperedge of the former extension, a gusset or neck :portion Ha: resultswhich spaces thezinner edge of the strap 21 a considerable distance awayfrom the adjacent end -or edge of the pad proper 1. It is this importantfeature .of the invention which allows the elastic-pad 1, althoughconfined in .a closely fitting pocket or :sack, comfortably to conformitself to theknee when bent as illustrated in Fig. 6.

When the knee is in this .bent position the aforesaid gusset or neckportion atlas of the front facing provides a sufficient amount of slack:in the latter facing to relieve :all strain upon :both the upper andlower attaching straps where they encircle the leg, .so that the deviceis 'as comfortable at such time as it is when the sweater is in astanding position. Also, when the .knee is bent, there is :noend-to-iend tension :upon the pad proper "l, but all portions thereofare positioned between the floor and the underside of the bent knee, andthe pad forms a better cushion than it would in case it was subjected atsuch time .to an end-to end tension tending to lengthen it and thereforeto decreasefitsthickness.

A single piece of sheet material is :made to inclose the entire padproper '1. Looking satthe upper part of the front of the pad, opposite:end portions of this piece overlap at 81 and the inside layer of theoverlap is continued downwardly over andibelow the front of thepad-proper l to form front sheet portions already mentioned. Thence thesame piece of sheet material, after being "folded over at 132 atthelower end of the device, is continued upwardly to form the back face ofthe entire structure, and then, after being folded over upon itself atthe upper end of the device at 30, is overlapped upon itself at theaforesaid overlap 31 where stitching 3laholds the three "layers of sheetmaterial. 'Also, as shown in Figs, 1, 4 and '5,-rows.of stitching I9 and9d closely border all four .sides of the pad proper, thus defining theaforesaid pocket therefor.

I claim:

1. In a knee guard of the :kind described, a front facing of sheetmaterial, a rear facing of sheet material, a cushioning pad enclosedbetween said facings, said facings being parts ,of a single piece ofsheet material and each having a lower Portion extending below said padand secured in a flatwise abuttin manner to its mate, each of saidfacings also having an upper portion extending above said pad andsecured in an abutting .flatwise manner to its mate, flexibleconnections secured to the upper and lower extensions formed by saidfacings, and fastenin means in a cooperative relation to'saidconnections for securing said pad to the leg in a position to protectthe knee.

2. In a knee guard of the kind described, a cushioning pad for the knee,sheet material including a pocket or sack containing said pad, a rearpart of said sheet material extending upwardly a considerable distancefrom :the applied pad and lying in the same vertical plane ,as the rearface of the latter, a strap secured at one end to a side portion of saidupwardly extended part at a point widely spaced above the upper side ofsaid pad, fastening means positioned to secure the unattached end ofsaid connection to the opposite side of said upward extension after saidstrap is passed around the leg, and additional fastening means for theknee guard connected with the lower part thereof, said upward extensionbeing flared throughout its upper edge portion thus providing divergingearswhichproject laterally beyond all other parts of the device,said-strap being permanently attached to one end of said ears and beingdetachably connect'ible with the other of them.

3. In a knee guard of the kind described, a ci-is'hioninp, 'pad for theknee, sheet material including a pocket containing said pad, a rear partof said sheet material extending upwardly a considerable distance fromthe applied pad and lying in the same vertical plane as the rear face ofthe latter, a strap secured at one end to a side portion of saidupwardly extended part at a point widely spaced above the unattached endof said connection to 'the'opposite side of said upward extension aftersaid strap is passed around the leg, and additional fastening means forthe knee guard connected with the lower part thereof, said pad being ofa general rectangular shape and said pocket for it being located betweenfront and rear stitched together pieces of said sheet material, thefront sheet overlying the front face of the pad and also its upper,lower and lateral edge portions, so that when the device is in itsoperative position the back face of said pad is flush with the aforesaidsheet which extends upwardly from the applied pad.

4. In a knee guard of the kind described, a cushioning pad proper, apocket forming piece of :material for said'pad made of a single sheet,said sheet consisting in the applied device of back and front portionswith the pad stitched into place between them, said sheet being foldedupon itself in a downwardly spaced relation to the pad proper and thenceextending upwardly across the outer face thereof to a point thereabove,the back portion being continued upwardly to a point upwardly spacedfrom the pad and there foldedforwardlyupon itself and thence continueddownwardly until it overlaps the upper edge portion of the opposite endof the sheet, stitching extending through the resulting three layeroverlap, and means attached to the upper and lower ends of the sheetmaterial to attach the device to the leg of the wearer,

ANNETTE E. VOLD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,587,508 Coats June 8, 19262,188,718 Jung Jan, 30, 1940 2,423,849 Patterson July 15, 1947

